You must have heard of American sensation Freddy Will. He’s a phlebotomist-turned-author who took the independent music circuits of Toronto, Canada, by storm during the early 2010s. Regarded as a pre-eminent figure in Sierra Leone’s music industry, he has influenced thousands with his crossover sound and unconventional blogging style on Facebook. As you might expect, there are several opinions about Freddy and what he writes. The global gossip has some who aren’t fans of his message although the Sierra Leone native has a phenomenal track record.
We spoke to some of his readers who stated that while they don’t always agree with everything he writes, his legacy is undeniable. The author has published eight books since 2016. Freddy currently has only 1000 subscribers to his YouTube channel, which features some of his most artistic music videos. If you ever visit his website, you can check out all of his books and albums like “Stay True,” “While I’m Still Young… The Talking Drums 1.2v,” “Laboramus Exspectantes Vol. 1,” Views from the 7,” and “African Black: The Unreleased Anthems & Ballads.”
Freddy is well known on social media platforms. Despite having a wild online presence for more than a decade, he rarely uses his Twitter and Instagram accounts, where he has posted a few links, to promote his new books or albums. This author is said to be worth five million dollars as of 2021. He boosts homes in the United States, Canada, Belgium, and Germany as he often travels back and forth between these four countries regularly. He is a baptized and confirmed Roman Catholic male with modern traditional views and a conservative mindset politically.
Kanu began his career in commerce and science, and he was a phlebotomist at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Jersey. He left the healthcare industry in 2006 and launched his independent music labels and career in Ontario, Canada. He talks about how passionate he has always been about music, theater, and literary writing on his LinkedIn profile. With a background in music and theater, he learned the value of pursuing his passion and made sure to create crossover hip hop to catch the attention of fans who enjoy different music genres.
Freddy believes he would sign a record and book publishing deal with a major company. Considering that he now makes a living off his brand, this prolific author could see success in the tens of millions of Euros during his career. Although he is also a publisher, his big push as an author came after he made negotiations to translate all his books into a number of European languages including German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Russian. During this interview, he said that his final push into the publishing universe came years before he became a diplomat.
Congratulations on the recent completion of your first book series.
Thank you! It’s nice to be here.
Do you write your books or do you get help behind the scenes?
My laptop, my ideas, my research, and my umph. That’s all me. There’s no one else.
We know you are a diplomat living in Brussels, an American Canadian, but you are initially from Sierra Leone? That’s according to what we found out about you.
Yes. Born and raised, partially.
Where exactly did you grow up?
My family moved to Liberia when I was two years old, we returned to Sierra Leone when I was thirteen, and then I moved to The Gambia when I was sixteen. So, Freetown, Monrovia, Latrikunda and Dakar. I also stayed in Kakata, Liberia, and Bo, Sierra Leone for a little while.
We read your biography. Before we get into the content of The Sandmann’s Journal, are there other artists and writers from Sierra Leone? These questions are for formality only.
Many giants wave the flag of Sierra Leone. We have several multi-talented, award-winning artists and reputable authors from there. I’m honored to be one of them.
We appreciate your humility, but we would like to know if there are other Grammy nominees from Sierra Leone who are honored with national stamps and have published several books internationally. Do you know Sierra Leonean artists who are writers like you?
There probably are, but I haven’t met one yet. You never know. The people of Sierra Leone are scattered across the globe and embedded in many communities. We have Swede Neneh Cherry and British Idris Elba, both from Sierra Leone. It’s a small country full of talent, and I know.
When did you start blogging?
I started in 2007 but didn’t get popping until 2009.
Was that the blog you republished as The Sandmann’s Journal?
Yes.
Is the blog still active?
Yes, but I renamed it and unpublished some of the articles that are now in this book series. Back then it was The Freddy Will Blog or Freddy Will’s Blog because I published it under my stage name. Now I call it Buntry Nimrod. That’s a whole different theme I’m developing.
Why did you rename it?
I thought the era was over. I ran it as an opinion blog from 2007 to 2021, and now I have a new format I want to use. God willing, it won’t be a blog in a few months.
In 2007 you were an unknown with a mixtape. What made you decide to publish a blog?
I recorded my first album independently. To get my music noticed in Toronto, Myspace had promise and blogging was the new thing. I was building my brand. I signed up on dating apps to redirect people from there to my social media pages and then I’d use my blog as another way to entertain them outside of Myspace. That was before I transferred to Facebook.
Did this work for you?
Yes, it did. My numbers went up. I went from a few hundred followers to tens of thousands. Back then, it was a pretty decent look for an indie artist in Canada.
Brilliant! Fast forward to the 2010s. You’re in Canada with two more independent albums released. They signed a publishing deal and published three books. And are you still blogging?
Right. I’m in Toronto as an independent artist with two books published. By the third album, my street perspective on life had changed from earlier in ‘06 and ‘07. It was now 2013 and 2014. I decided to focus on blogging while promoting my records on social media.
How did The Sandmann’s Journal come about?
My Sandman name is derived from a character in the PS3 version of Scarface. He’s a wise black man with a well-connected and established organization living on an island. I’ve always liked this character. After posting my blog for a while, I noticed that every time I left it alone, some of the content disappeared, and the site could be removed. So, I decided to republish the blog as my alter ego’s diary in this book series and call the series The Sandmann’s Journal.
When did you release the first one?
Volume one came out in the summer of 2016 while I was visiting my grandmother in London, UK, and volume two came out in the winter of 2016 after I moved to Brussels, Belgium.
Oh yes! At the same time, you moved from Canada to Europe. How was it?
In 2016 and 2017, I got used to Europe. I dropped my “Views from the 7” album, visited the neighboring European countries, and returned to Sierra Leone for the first time since 1995. My focus shifted to business ventures and investment opportunities that I discovered here.
Right. Compared to the United States, Europe is much closer to West Africa. This Sandmann’s Journal sounds like a brilliant project. You started the blog in Canada and then started publishing volumes of the book series in the UK and Belgium? Are you still blogging at this time?
That’s the thing. I still blogged. I’ve paused that now because if I continue, I’d have to publish more book series volumes. I was fed up, but I blogged until the end of 2021.
Just out of curiosity, which major European cities have you visited, and what did you do there? Guide us through your first experience in Western Europe.
I was already in London, so Paris was next. Then it went to Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Prague, Tallinn, Berlin, and Brussels. I like museums, so I’ve visited a lot of really cool ones in London, Paris, and Berlin. The restaurants were my favorite. I also checked out their red-light districts, bars, and nightclubs and saw some of the historical sights, just typical tourist activities.
What happened next?
In 2018, I got the perfect home in Berlin, Germany. Now I had a house in Brussels and Berlin. Then I resumed publishing other volumes in the book series. It was clear that I wouldn’t be releasing all seven volumes in a few years, so I slowed down and took my time. That year I finally published volumes three and four in Brussels.
In Canada, you published three books between 2009 and 2014, but in Europe, it’s an average of two books a year. In the two years, you lived there, you had already published four books.
Yes. I published the blogs I wrote in Canada while posting new blogs simultaneously. Soul Asylum Poetry & Publishing Inc published my first three books, but I also recorded a lot of music at the same time. In Europe, I recorded less and wrote and released more books.
You’ve also released new music and the business ventures you mentioned. How about 2019?
Same. I published two more books. That was volume five of the book series and the tenth-anniversary edition of my first book. I also traveled more during that year.
Yes, we saw that. You went to Holland, Canada, Grenada, and India. 2020?
That’s the year the pandemic broke out. I released volume six and took a break until 2022 when I released the last volume which is volume seven.
That’s nuts! Where did you publish those two?
I did both of them in Berlin.
Impressive! You independently wrote and published eight books between 2016 and 2022 while living in Canada, the UK, Belgium, Grenada, and Germany.
It was a lot of hard work. Writing and editing take many hours. Although I wrote the first half of my blog in Canada, I blogged in Europe during the publication of the journals. I can’t wait to get out and party again. I want to record new music, go out and socialize a bit.
Apple Music says you released an album in 2020. We’re sure more books will follow, and we can’t wait to do another interview. Can you tell us something about The Sandmann’s Journal? What topics do you cover in this book series? What is it all about?
You’re right. I have at least three new books waiting to be published. I have to edit them, which will take some time. In The Sandmann’s Journal, I wrote about the true essence of hip-hop culture, the state of affairs in this modern era, social justice, the detrimental impact of radical feminism on romantic relationships, and more. I’m sure I’m missing something, but the book series is about the impact of wireless technology and social media on the information age. We’ve seen a shift in traditional cultures over the last decade, which is where I focused.
Tell us a little about what you wrote about the true essence of hip hop?
Oh boy, here we are again. So, I think hip hop has broken new ground. We see independent rappers who’re financially successful. They drop great music, get millions of streams on YouTube and Spotify, and gain notoriety among a significant group of people. Especially in this era of drill music, when many new rappers are signing big record deals. But on the other hand, the lyrical content goes in the opposite direction of headway. You see a lot of black-on-black crime, promiscuity, and a general deviation from the original essence of hip hop. I wrote on this.
Was the G-Funk and boom-bap era different from this new trap and drill era?
Not really. Our era was also filled with negativity. I don’t know. I wanted to show with this book that I’m in tune with the new rappers. I love trap and drill artists. Drake, Future, Lil Uzi Vert, Young Thug, 2 Chains, Cardi B, Lil Durk, 600 Breezy, 21 Savage, Nicki Minaj, Kodak Black, the list goes on. But I’m also into Rakim, Nas, 50 Cent, Jay Z, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, Big Daddy Kane, Dr. Dre, KRS One, D Block, Camron, Jim Jones, Wu-Tang, Tribe Called Quest, and them. This series of books talk about hip hop from black history and cultural perspectives.
This is incredible. Thank you for taking part in this interview, and we wish you nothing but success in your music career, your business ventures, and your time in Europe.
Gladly, and thank you too!
For more information, please visit freddywill.com.
